WASHINGTON — Forced leaves began in Washington and worldwide Friday for most employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development, as federal workers associations turned to the courts to try to roll back Trump administration orders that have dismantled most of the agency and U.S.- funded aid programs around the world.

Thousands of USAID employees, except for essential personnel, were notified they will be placed on administrative leave at the end of Friday.

In a brief note posted on the international development agency's website, almost all employees were told they would be put on leave. The note ended with the words, "Thank you for your service."

The largest U.S. government worker union and an association of foreign service workers sued the Trump administration on Thursday in an effort to reverse its aggressive dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The lawsuit is the first seeking to block the Trump administration's overhaul of the US Agency for International Development.

President Donald Trump’s shutdown of the US Agency for International Development was challenged in court by unions representing federal employees, which say the freeze on foreign aid is causing a global humanitarian crisis and costing thousands of American jobs.

Federal workers associations filed suit late Thursday asking a federal court to stop the Trump administration’s “effective dismantling” of the lead U.S. aid agency. The lawsuit by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees comes as the new Trump administration and ally Elon Musk